Councillors have delivered the final nail in the coffin for a Kilmarnock car park.

Members of East Ayrshire Council’s planning committee agreed by five votes to three to back the authority’s proposal for homes in the site at Portland Street next to the railway viaduct.

The car park is used by shoppers and commuters.

The move at last week’s meeting marked the end of a tortuous process which has seen the principle of housing on the site rejected by councillors, only to be approved within months.

Last week’s meeting split along party lines with members of the authority’s Labour opposition casting their votes against the plan.

They backed Councillor John Knapp’s argument that the site should be kept for commercial use.

He said: “Historically that site was of commercial and business use.

“To build that number of houses on that site would restrict opportunities for the build-up of Kilmarnock as a more amenable area for commerce.”

The housing scheme comprises two wheelchair-accessible units, with 20 flats in two-storey blocks.

The council’s own planning application attracted only one objection with claims that the development would obscure Kilmarnock’s Old High Kirk.

But councillors heard that Historic Scotland considered that the proposed housing resulted in a positive contribution to the setting of the historic building – restoring a formal view and access to the church from Portland Street.